Online Learning, Las Positas College, May 2018 Volume 1, Number 3
 
 
Congratulations Las Positas College on joining the OEI!

LPC Selected to OEI Consortium

LPC is one of 33 colleges selected to participate in the Online Education Initiative's 2018 Online Equity Cohort. The OEI, according to its web site, is a collaborative effort among California Community Colleges to ensure that significantly more students are able to complete their educational goals by increasing both access to, and success in, high-quality online courses.

The 2018 cohort will initially have a special focus on student equity, including:
  • Culturally responsive teaching with a community of practice around online equity. 
  • Name/gender identification for instruction and student support services, including counseling, tutoring, health services, etc.
  • Pilot additional online resources integrated into Canvas for community building, student engagement, and collaboration.
  • Faculty engagement in collaborative course development using OER materials in Canvas.
  • Support for the development of a local, peer-faculty course review process to support equity and student success in online courses.
  • Programmatic and technical preparation for Course Exchange participation.
LPC is expected to begin working with the OEI in July, and over the coming years, our students who cannot get the classes they need to earn a degree or certificate will be able to take those classes online from other colleges in the consortium. Conversely, students from other colleges will be able to take LPC online classes.
 
Click to view video.
Watch Scott's interview with the OEI
 

Katie ColemanOnline Student of the Year


Katie Coleman was selected as the Online Student of the Year Scholarship winner. According to her application, Katie worked for several years before returning to college and is still employed at least 10 hours a week. She is the first in her family to attend college and plans to transfer to Sacramento State where she aims to obtain a BA in Business. Her ultimate goal is to open her own “unplugged” café and spa. Katie is a working mom who has taken 16 online courses since 2014. She has an overall GPA of 3.78. She said, “I can truly say that I would not be graduating this summer with an Associate in Business Entrepreneurship if it weren’t for the opportunity to take online courses.” She will be honored at the Annual Student Scholarship Ceremony on May 18 and will receive a $300 scholarship. 
 

Accessibility logo Make Word Docs, PPTs Accessible

When you get that urge to upload Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint presentations into Canvas (or anywhere else on the web, for that matter), stop yourself because you're probably doing things incorrectly. In order to make those documents and presentations accessible to all students, particularly those with disabilities, you need to convert them to accessible PDFs before uploading. Please follow the steps in these tutorials to be ADA-compliant:

The easiest way to ensure accessibility in Canvas is to type or paste directly into Canvas' Rich Content Editor and not use Word or PowerPoint at all.                         

If you need one-on-one help with web accessibility, you can make an appointment with LPC's Instructional Technology Specialist Wanda Butterly, aka The Wizard of Accessibility. Known for her Magic Wand(a), she can help you ensure that all of your Canvas materials are accessible to all of your students.
                                                                  Wanda Butterly, the Wizard of Accessibility
 

  Canvas logoUsing the Canvas Teacher App

                         Smart phone with the Canvas Teacher App
Faculty can create and edit content in their courses, grade their students, and perhaps more importantly, communicate with students while on the go with the Canvas Teacher App. The app is available for iOS and Android mobile devices. To learn what's possible and how to work with the Canvas Teacher App, go to our tutorial page, and get started using it.

                         
 

                           Tim Druley

Tim Druley wins Chancellor's Award

Congratulations to Tim Druley for being a recipient of the 2018 CLPCCD Chancellor's Award! Aside from his duties as LPC's webmaster, Tim has performed several functions in support of online learning, including setting up the structure for the college's revised Online Learning and Distance Education Committee web sites in the new web content management system, OU Campus, along with customizing the visual theme and global navigation menu in Canvas.

From the award application: "His wealth of knowledge and friendly approach to educate and provide support when necessary has allowed for projects to be completed efficiently and successfully."                       
 
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